The Back Story monthly interview features ADAPTOVATE employees from around the world. Each month we ask them 10 questions. Our team is the greatest asset we have, and it’s a privilege to share just a little bit more about who they are.
This month we are joined in conversation by Ben Lyon, a senior consultant with our UK team. In fact, Ben was our very first employee in London.
First up – how long have you worked with us?
I started in June 2021, so just over 6 months now.
Why did you join us? Were you in the industry previously, or looking for a new career direction?
I had been an Agile practitioner in a large corporate setting for a few years and had also started to pursue Agile consultancy work in my own time. I was keen to coach Agile in more industries and organisations, so although I didn’t have a consulting background it felt like I was moving in that direction.
I launched a website in 2019 called ‘Agile Avengers’ with a couple of colleagues and wanted to write useful, accessible Agile content that would benefit individuals and teams who might not necessarily get access to the training and consultancy services that we often get exposure to in large corporates.
Doug Ross (one of the ADAPTOVATE founding partners) and myself connected on LinkedIn at the start of 2020 after Doug came across Agile Avengers and he’d reached out to say he was enjoying our content.
I’ll admit I was pretty pumped that our content had a) made it’s way across the globe and b) was being appreciated by a seasoned Agile and consulting pro! Doug was planning a visit to London in the Spring of 2020 and we’d arranged to meet.
I knew Doug was scoping out a London office and I was keen to hear more about ADAPTOVATE, but the pandemic had other plans… COVID-19 forced the world into lockdown merely weeks before our dinner and so everything went on hold.
Later in 2020 I was approached for an Agile coaching engagement and reached out to Doug to see if ADAPTOVATE wanted to partner up. I got to meet some of the ADAPTOVATE team in Warsaw and was really impressed with how they blended consulting and Agile coaching in the way they worked. In my mind, it was the ideal mi